The fOXX Clean Machine is a vintage overdrive and fuzz box made by Ridinger Associates Inc of Chatsworth, California, in the early 1970s. TONEHOME describes it as "a pure overdrive/fuzz box", dating it to 19731. It belongs to the same family of dirt pedals as today's overdrive and fuzz designs, but with a single selector rather than a panel of knobs.
What it does
The Clean Machine's whole design hangs on one control. A rotary switch on the left side of the pedal selects four different options of distortion. At position 1 it gives a warm overdrive, and as the switch is turned it climbs through progressively heavier settings until it reaches an over the top fuzz at position 5, which TONEHOME compares to the triangle and ram's head era fuzz pedals1. In practice that makes it a two pedal job in one box: a player can treat the lower settings as an overdrive for pushing an amp, and the top settings as a fuzz for heavier sounds.
Controls
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Rotary switch (left side) | Selects four options of distortion, from warm overdrive at position 1 to over the top fuzz at position 5, reminiscent of triangle/ram's fuzzes1 |
Background
Ridinger Associates Inc built the Clean Machine in Chatsworth, California, and the pedal was on the market by 1973. Its US retail price in 1974 was $69.951. For players who want to look inside the circuit, a schematic for the Clean Machine is available as a download1.
Questions
What kind of pedal is the fOXX Clean Machine?
It is a pure overdrive and fuzz box made in 1973 by Ridinger Associates Inc of Chatsworth, California. Its single control, a rotary switch on the left side, selects four different amounts of distortion, starting with a warm overdrive at position 1 and going up to an over the top fuzz at position 5, in the manner of the triangle and ram's head era fuzzes.
Who made the fOXX Clean Machine?
The Clean Machine was built by Ridinger Associates Inc, a company based in Chatsworth, California, in the early 1970s. The pedal appeared in 1973 and carried a US retail price of $69.95 in 1974, according to the vintage effects reference TONEHOME.
Sources (1)
- TONEHOME, TONEHOME - the World of Vintage Guitar Effect Pedals, 1974
